RealGM

A friend emailed me this today. Enjoy.

Link

Harsh conclusions, but a good read. Can't really argue a lot with it. I still think that Josh's drive to succeed will win out, but I do have to question whether he'll put it together while he still has his tremendous athleticism.

What a brilliant article. The vocab was pretty insane. That article is sad but true

^^^its his 6th year. How long do we have to wait?

Fantastic stuff. It's good to read an opinion on the Hawks from a guy who knows what he's talking about. He pretty much touched on everything: how the Hawks' offense must take some of the blame for Smith's play, how his lack of effort on the glass hurts the Hawks in their attempt to get out in transition as they want to, and how his overall defensive play took a sudden step in the wrong direction.

For all the talk about Josh's erratic offensive game, it is the defensive end where he really took a step backwards. I thought the guy hit the nail on the head, his positional defense and rebounding on both ends of the floor was shocklingly sub-par. Even his ability to block shots diminished. Since we all know that Josh has shown to be much better than that on the defensive end in the past I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt for now. But next year will surely be a pivotal time and give us a real idea of whether he ever turns into the complete package.

Personally I can live with Josh's shortcoming on the offensive end. But he's got to bring it defensively and make plays on that side of the ball every night. It's what he does on D that makes him so special.

As a Spur fan with Hawks season tix I have to disagree with his theme or his premise.

I agree Josh is a tremendous talent that hasn't fully materialized. But a large part is due to the fact that he's never played with a play making point guard.

Bibby and Flip don't help him on a regular basis. Joe does some.

A real point guard would improve Josh's slot selection and everyone else's on the team. Josh shoots bad shots because the HAWKS HAVE NO QB OR PLAYMAKER.

Here's basically what happens in the playoffs or crucial junctures of games. they double Joe, he passes to Bibby or Flip even the bad NBA defenses can rotate to the second option then the ball goes to Josh who either shoots or drives.


He started posting a little in the playoffs. He should do that more ...

besides Doc Rivers or a new offense Andre Miller or J kidd that's what Josh needs.

put him on Cleve, Phoenix, New Orleans, Philly, Utah, and he's an all star. On cleveland next year he he start inthe allstar game.

He shoots the bad jumper many times because others either wont step up or can't get their own shots. Josh, marvin, and Horford are dependant players.


The article writer in my opinion either doesn't know the game that well or has not watched much of the Hawks.

That's an interesting point wiz. I have to say it seems to be all the above. To bring your point a prime example from this season, just look at what Billups did for KMart this year. Martin has been going downhill since his injury problems started. A truly great PG in Billups gave him focus on defense and opportunities on offense. Bibby ought to be able to give Smoove more opportunities close to the net where he can use his quickness to get easy points and pick up fouls. I totally agree with the article though that Woody's offense hinders that from the start. (If I see him run that stupid 2 bigs-high offense more, I think I'll be sick; just no offensive imagination from Woody at all.) Personally, I think Bibby could do the job if we had an offensive set opened things up for him to make plays for our athletic bigs in Smoove and Horford and create open shots for Marvin and JJ.

Defensively, Smoove has always been lacking in focus and discipline. He has the athleticism to dominate any player on defense if he would move his feet and stay in position. Until he starts thinking better on defense and using his abilities to his advantage to gain position rather than react, we will never see him realize his true potential.